THE WALL OF FACES

On November 30, 1968, SGT Richard A. Fitts, SGT Arthur E. Bader Jr., CPL Gary R. LaBohn, SSGT Klaus D. Scholz, MAJ Samuel K. Toomey III, CPL Michael H. Mein, and 1LT Raymond C. Stacks were passengers aboard a Vietnamese Air Force CH-34 helicopter (serial #14-4653) as their team was being transported to their reconnaissance mission area in Laos. Details of their mission was classified at that time, and remained classified in early 1990. The helicopter was flying at 4,000 feet when it was struck by 37mm anti-aircraft fire, went into a spin, crashed in a mass of flames and exploded. The helicopter crashed about 10 miles northwest of Khe Sanh, just into Laos east of Tchepone. The crash site is in heavy jungle, near a stream. From the time the aircraft was hit until the time it impacted out of view, the helicopter was under observation and no one was seen to leave the aircraft during its descent. No ground search was initiated because the location was in a denied area. Later visual search indicated that the pilot's hatch was open, and his helmet was seen 25-30 feet from the helicopter, but no survivors or bodies were seen. All the personnel aboard the aircraft were declared Missing in Action. In March 1988, the area in which the helicopter crashed was excavated by a joint Lao/US technical team. Human remains consisting of 17 teeth and 145 bone fragments, none measuring over two inches, were recovered. The remains were returned to the U.S. Army Central Identification (CIL) in Hawaii. On January 3, 1990, it was announced that the remains of Richard Fitts had been positively identified from the material recovered at the crash site. That identification was determined by the government's conclusion that two of the 17 teeth belonged to Fitts. Fitts' parents, after having an independent analysis conducted on the teeth, felt assured that the teeth belonged to their son, and subsequently buried them in Boston, Massachusetts. The remaining 15 teeth and 145 bone fragments were said to be unidentifiable. Barely a month later, on February 8, 1990, the Department of Defense announced that the remainder of the crew had been positively identified and would be buried, along with the Vietnamese crew, in a mass grave in Arlington National Cemetery. Fitts' name was included on that tombstone along with the other Americans because the Pentagon believed some of the bone fragments belonged to Fitts. [Taken from pownetwork.org]

On November 30, 1968, SGT Richard A. Fitts, SGT Arthur E. Bader, CPL Gary R. LaBohn, SSGT Klaus D. Scholz, MAJ Samuel K. Toomey III, CPL Michael H. Mein, 1LT Raymond C. Stacks were passengers aboard a Vietnamese Air Force CH-34 helicopter (serial #14-4653) as their team was being transported to their reconnaissance mission area in Laos. Details of their mission was classified at that time, and remains classified in early 1990. However, information received from some of the family members indicates that the mission was related to disarming an enemy munitions store. This same account includes the information that Maj. Toomey was a chemical warfare expert. Other information states that he was a communications officer. Toomey's family identified his job as one that he could not talk about, but that he was an "Advisor to the Special Forces." The helicopter was flying at 4,000 feet when it was struck by 37mm anti-aircraft fire, went into a spin, crashed in a mass of flames and exploded. The helicopter crashed about 10 miles northwest of Khe Sanh, just into Laos east of Tchepone. The crash site is in heavy jungle, near a stream. From the time the aircraft was hit until the time it impacted out of view, the helicopter was under observation and no one was seen to leave the aircraft during its descent. No ground search was initiated because the location was in a denied area. Later visual search indicated that the pilot's hatch was open, and his helmet was seen 25-30 feet from the helicopter, but no survivors or bodies were seen. All the personnel aboard the aircraft, however, were not declared dead, but were were declared Missing in Action, which was procedure when no proof of death existed. When the war ended, and 591 Americans were releaesed from prison camps in Southeast Asia, not one man who had been held in Laos was released. In March 1988, the area in which the helicopter crashed was excavated by a joint Lao/US technical team. Human remains consisting of 17 teeth and 145 bone fragments, none measuring over two inches, were recovered. The remains were returned to the U.S. Army Central Identification (CIL) in Hawaii. On January 3, 1990, it was announced that the remains of Richard Fitts had been positively identified from the material recovered at the crash site. That identification was determined by the government's conclusion that two of the 17 teeth belonged to Fitts. Fitts' parents, after having an independent analysis conducted on the teeth, felt assured that the teeth belonged to their son, and subsequently buried them in Boston, Massachusetts. The remaining 15 teeth and 145 bone fragments were said to be unidentifiable. Barely a month later, on February 8, 1990, the Department of Defense announced that the remainder of the crew had been positively identified and would be buried, along with the Vietnamese crew, in a mass grave in Arlington National Cemetery. Fitts' name was included on that tombstone along with the other Americans because the Pentagon believed some of the bone fragments belonged to Fitts. [Narrative taken from pownetwork.org; image from evergreenmuseum.wordpress.com]

Dear SSGT Michael Hammond Mein, sir

As an American, I would like to thank you for your service and for your sacrifice made on behalf of our wonderful country. The youth of today could gain much by learning of heroes such as yourself, men and women whose courage and heart can never be questioned.

May God allow you to read this, and may He allow me to someday shake your hand when I get to Heaven to personally thank you. May he also allow my father to find you and shake your hand now to say thank you; for America, and for those who love you.

With respect, and the best salute a civilian can muster for you, Sir

Curt Carter

SFC Michael H. Mein, Cape Vincent, New York, patrol member, Command and Control North, MACV-SOG, missing in action since November 30, 1968, ten miles East of Tchepone, Laos, when returning from patrol aboard a Vietnamese CH-34 helicopter that was hit by 37mm antiaircraft fire. The aircraft fell out of the sky from 3,000 feet and exploded upon impact with the ground. No ground search was initiated at the time because the crash site was located in a “Denied Area.”

“Green Berets At War”, copywrited by Shelby L. Stanton in 1985, reprinted in 1987 by Presidio Press.

Other US Personnel aboard the UH-34 that day were:

SFC Arthur Edward Bader, Jr., Atlantic City
SSG Richard A. Fitts, Abingdon, Massachusetts
SFC Gary R. LaBohn, Wixom, Michigan
SFC Klaus D. Scholtz, Amarillo, Texas
CPT Raymond C. Stacks, Memphis, Tennessee
MAJ Samuel K. Toomey, III, Independence, Missouri

There is an addendum to the above information.

On May 23, 1990, these seven American soldiers’ remains were buried in a common grave in Arlington National Cemetery after they were recovered from the crash site in March 1989. Pentagon Officials presumptively identified them after the U.S. Army Identification Laboratory at Hickam AFB, Hawaii, was able to positively identify the remains of one soldier known to be aboard the aircraft at the time of the crash.

The remains of that one soldier, SSG Richard A. Fitts, Abingdon, Massachusetts, were buried there earlier in 1990. His name is listed with the six other Green Berets on the group’s grave marker because of the possibility of some of his remains being mixed with the rest of the group buried there.

On July 15, 1991, Ms. Lou Anne LaBohn, the sister of SFC Gary R. LaBohn, obtained a minor victory over the Pentagon when officials agreed to remove SFC LaBohn’s name from the marker. The new marker was paid for by the Department of Veteran’s Affairs. Ms LaBohn will continue to push the National League of Families of POWs and MIAs in Southeast Asia, to take a stand against the military policy of closing the books on entire missing crews based, “…on only one identification.”

This information was taken from press releases by Arlington National Cemetery.